At least we're under the same sky
by Backblack
Summary: There is more to love than loving and being loved. That is what this pair will find out as their friendship develops into something more. Meantime, everyone just struggles trying to figure out how to survive a war. (please please please review :3 )
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

Someone once told me that happiness is when you wake up in the middle of the night and it's no longer so hot that you feel like your melting and you're actually a bit cold, so you pull up the sheet and cover yourself with it and it's just enough to keep you warm and in that moment nothing else matters and you are truly happy and pleased with your current situation. I must say I agree.

This summer has been quite hot and I find myself having trouble falling asleep. I lay in bed, windows open, all the blankets and sheets thrown away from me, wearing nothing but a tank top and a pair of knickers, unable to doss off. But, if I'm lucky enough, every now and then, I experience what I have described and it sure makes me feel happy when I wake up in the morning, knowing it was a very good night of sleep.

This is one of those mornings. I lay in bed, half awake, feeling incredibly rested. A slight breeze shifts the curtains on my window, the blinds half shut, letting in just enough light to allow the contours of my room to be visible. I call it my room, but it's no actually mine. I'm not in my own home but at my father's sister's house. I spend my summer with the Potter's for as long as I can remember because – well, honestly I don't have anywhere else to go.

My parents met in Paris when dad was backpacking throw Europe. She was working at a little hidden magic bookstore and they met entirely by accident. She was half vela, with beautiful long wavy hair cascading down her back and beautiful almond shaped blue eyes. My dad was quite handsome as well and such an interesting man, she reciprocated his advances and they ended up marring that very summer. He got a job at the Ministries office overseas and a few months later she was pregnant with me. My mum died when I was ten. My dad and I have been alone with each other ever since. We moved to London soon after her death. His sister, Mrs Potter, helped was the greatest help he could have asked for. We works such long hours, he's hardly ever at home. So the Potter's invite me to stay with them most of the time. Then I went to Hogwarts and there found a new home. My friends truly are my family, I'm closer with them than with anyone else in the world. I was lucky enough to be the same age as James, so he got to discover the new school together and share an amazing group of friends.

As I lay in bed, thinking of all this, I ponder whether I should get up or let myself fall back to sleep. I don't even have time to decide. Just as I'm being pulled back to the land of sweet dreams I'm quite literally shaken from head to toes.

"Wake up sunshine! It's such a beautiful day outside! The sun is out, the birds are singing, the dogs barking, the cats meowing –"

"I know what sound's animals make James!" I cut in, hitting the boy who is jumping up and down on my bed, shaking me by the shoulders, over the head with a pillow, knocking his glasses off his face. He puts them back on and sits by the end of my bed. "So, I gather you didn't forget Lily is coming over today." Lily is my best friend and James's lifelong crush. I think she reciprocates the feelings but is not yet ready to admit it. But that is a whole other story. I sit up in my bed and notice Sirius is standing by the door, wearing nothing but a pair of pyjama bottoms and the world's sexiest bed hair ever seen. I'm suddenly very aware that I'm only wearing a tank top and my knickers.

"Oh he didn't forget alright!" he says, slightly exasperated, dropping himself on a large armchair next to my bed. "He talked about it incessantly last night. I eventually fell asleep, but I think he kept talking, none the less." James throws a pillow at his face, pretending to be offended.

"What time is it anyway? It seems way too early for me to be up guys! Also, we should probably have a conversation about boundaries and why rampaging into my room in the morning and jumping onto my bed is breaking a bunch of them."

"Oh, come on doll, you love it when we do this! Besides, it's not like we've never seen you naked!" Sirius says, with a cheeky wink. I throw another pillow at his face.

"Speak for yourself Padfoot, I've never seen my cus naked nor do I ever expect to!" James retorts, pretending to be offended.

"You don't know what you're missing dude!"

"Get out of my room, both of you, out!" I say with a smile, gesturing them to the door. Since they don't even nudge and inch I get up and fiscally push them towards the door. "Out boys, out! Gone with you!"

When they leave I make my way to the bathroom and jump onto the shower. Since I'm definitely not gonna get any more sleep I might as well get started with my day. As I stand in the tub, water falling on my back I think about how weird by relationship with this boys is.

James is my best friend in the whole world. He was my rock when my mum died, helping me cope with this major lost and with the difficulties of adapting to a new country. I spoke English well, but French was still my first language and at first it was a difficult transition. At Hogwarts we were luck enough to be at the same house and remained close throughout the years. That's how I became friends with Sirius, Remus and Peter.´

From day one these boys have been as close as you can get, especially since Sirius moved here, last summer. He already spent most of his time outside of Hogwarts with the Potters but now it was truly permanent and official. That is also the reason we are this close. We joke around and insult each other without ever getting offended. Sometimes we pretend we are an old married couple in which I'm the man and he's the woman. We are no strangers to sexual jokes and the limits as to where we are allowed to push these jests is yet to be determined. For the first years of our friendship I was mostly oblivious to his appearance. I mean, I noticed her was handsome and very successful with the ladies but never in a way that made me think I was attracted to him. Now things are a bit more confusing and I find myself fighting off these thoughts more and more often.

I'm ready now and decide to look myself in the mirror to access whether I'm presentable or not. "I look nothing like my mother", I think to myself. My hair is a light shade of brown, cascading down by back until around my waist. My eyes, although also almond shaped, are dark brown, almost black. I'm very pale like she was, so there's that. And my lips are somewhat like hers, small and a bit pouty, as well as my nose, slightly turned up. But these features, that I found so adorable and beautiful in her, seem so plain and almost displeasing in myself. I'm wearing a pair of high waited light denim shorts, a short loose black T-shirt and a pair of white sneakers. "Well, this is as good as it's gonna get!" I tell myself, before turning around and leaving the room.

When I get to the kitchen only Mrs Potter is there. She tells me Mr Potter as already left for the Ministries and the boys are still getting ready. "What a pair of daisies!" I say with a laugh.

"We heard that!" James retorts, entering the room, followed by Siruis.

"What a perfect timing boys, I couldn't have asked for better. I have to talk to the three of you. I'm going out to visit a friend that needs my help and will probably stay there until after dinner. Charlus is meeting me there after work so you'll have to figure it out by yourselves. When Lily arrives show her to her room and around the neighbourhood but I don't want you staying out until very late, promise me you won't!"

"What happen mum?"

"The Roberts where attracted last night by a bunch of death eaters. Your father didn't want me to tell you this but I figured you're old enough to realise things are getting worse. But don't concern yourselves too much darlings, enjoy your day. I have to go now." She kissed Mia on the forehead and patted the boys as she left. They ate their breakfast in silence, not knowing exactly what to say.

Eventually it was almost 10am and we left for Diagon Alley to pick up Lily. We had decided to meet by Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and when we arrived she was already there, sitting alone at a table, her school trunk by her side. It was only a week until school started so she agreed to stay with us until then. How I managed to convince her to stay under the same roof as James I still don't know. But I think it has something to do with the fact that she is warming up to him lately.

I immediately run towards her and welcome her with a tight hug like I hadn't seen her for ages, even though we had just been together the previous week. When the boys finally catch up with us we are already engaged in animated conversation.

"Hello love, miss me much?"

"Don't make me regret accepting this invitation Potter!" Lily snaps.

"He's just joking, don't mind him. What do you guys say we get some beginning of year shopping done and afterwards eat some lunch at The Leaky cauldron?" Everyone agreed and so we did. The rest of the morning passed in a jest. We bought all our school supplies (thank God Lily brought her list with her since the rest of us didn't remember) and ate a lovely lunch of steak and kidney pie. James hardly made any stupid remarks or jokes trying to get Lily's attention and was actually quite nice to her. She even seemed to be enjoying speaking to the boy. Meantime, Sirius and I were stuck talking to each other (not that any of us minded, really), being interrupted an unusual amount of times by girls wanting to exchange a few words with him. And not only girls from our year and house. No, pretty much any girl who recognized him came up to us, even though he clearly wasn't pleased with their approach and didn't even know their names most of the time.

Eventually it was time to go home. Lilly was settled in a room across from mine and the boys made dinner (fish and ships and ice-cream for desert) so we had some time to catch up on our talk in my bedroom.

After we finished eating and the kitchen was tidy we went outside, laid on the grass in the back yard and watched the stars. Lily went to bed early and James offered to accompany her inside, saying he had a book he wanted to show her. She didn't seem too displeased which didn't surprise me because earlier, when we were alone, she told me she thought James was quite different, more grown up.

Sirius and I stayed outside for some time longer and as it is common when the two of us are alone laughed our ball off. After a few moments of silence I asked him what had been on my mind since that morning.

"What do you think is gonna happen next?"

"What do you mean?" he says, quite confused.

"I mean, with the war and all … with us, all of us, ta Hogwarts, what will happen after"

"Oh – he paused – I dunno. I guess some of us will go on to fight him, that is, if he's still alive when we graduate." He forced himself to chuckle but I know him too well not to notice he was faking it.

"I wanna fight him Sirius" I don't care if I die, but I refuse to put my arms down!"

"You really are you father's daughter!"

"What do you mean? What do you know about my father?" this time I'm the one that is confused.

"Well, Mrs Potter talks about him sometimes and she says he's a very brave man and that he should take better care of himself, he shouldn't commit so mush to his work. And I got to talk to him, last time he had dinner here. He told me all about his job as an auror and the look he had when he explained how important it was to keep fighting, "refusing to put your arms down, regardless of the danger", those were is words, it was the exact same look you had on right now."

I feel tears crawling to my eyes but i don't feel the need to fight them, not in front of him, not after what he just said. "Thank – I pause – for saying all those things!"

"Anytime love, anytime." He says, before whipping away the tears that are now rolling down my cheeks. "It's late, you should get some sleep. And don't let these things keep you too worried, there is no use in thinking about it now."

As I lay in my bed, trying to fall asleep, I think about Sirius and what a great guy he is. Most people see him as an empty headed ladies' man but he is so much more than that. If only everyone could see him the way she did.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

The sound of steps down the hall pulls me from my light sleep into consciousness. It is past three in the morning and the Potters have only just arrived. I wonder what they've been doing all this time. Most of all, I wonder whether they'll tell us about it. Things are getting more and more dangerous, you can't help but notice that. News of disappearances and deaths become more and more common these days.

I turn around, trying to fall asleep once more. There is no use in staying thinking about these matters. I takes me some time, but eventually I doze off once more, only to wake up b the sweet dulcet tones of Lily calling my name.

"Mia, wake up darling, we have a very long day ahead of us."

"Noooooooooo, just five more minutes, I'm not done with sleeping yet." I say, in a childish voice, curling myself on my blankets.

"If you don't get up now I'll have to call in the boys and from what you tell me they are not exactly the nicest pair at waking you up." Even threats sound nicer when she says it. I uncover my face and look up at her with a pout.

Tomorrow is my birthday (yay!) so today we're having a party tonight at the Potter's, with some friends and family. This way I get to spend midnight with everyone I adore. This also means I'll probably be hangover all through my birthday but hey, it's a risk worth taking, for sure. When I get to the kitchen I'm surprised to see no one is there yet. There is however, an envelope on the counter with a small handwritten note on top. The note is from Mrs Potter, saying she had left to meet with the Roberts again but would be back soon after lunch. The letter was addressed to me, from dad. I feel a pang on my chest. Even before opening this I know what new is concealed inside. Dad was supposed to come dine with us today, which was the whole purpose of having a small dinner with just family and close friends instead of a large one with everyone that was invited to the party. Like I suspected, he's not coming.

"Hello hello sunshine! How you –" Seeing the look on my face, Sirius stopped talking mid-sentence. "What's the matter?" He furrows his eyebrows, concerned.

"He's not coming…" I don't have to say anything else, he knows exactly what I'm talking about. He also knows there is no use in discussing the matter any further. Instead, he hugs me, my head resting on his chest, his hands on my back. We stay like this for some time until we hear people coming down the stairs. When Lily and James enter the room we are already sitting on the table, silently eating breakfast. They are too engaged in conversation to notice the strange mood, thank God for that.

The morning goes by in a frenzy – Lily decided we should bake a few cakes and deserts for the party. This plan, however innocently thought of on her part, turned into pure mayhem as the boys joined and decided it was best to start a food fight. After the food was baked and the kitchen clean (by magic, of course) we went outside for a walk. The house is set on a cliff, by the sea, separated from the beach only by a narrow wooden footbridge.

Lily is by the sea with James, who's trying to show her how to conjure waves and make them look like swirls of water although I'm pretty sure she is capable of doing that already. The thought of Lily pretending not to know something in order to spend time with James makes me laugh internally: maybe they'll be together sooner that we thought.

Sirius is sitting quietly next to me and I feel him looking at me intently every once in a while. "I'm fine!" I say, with a smile, without ever turning to him. That way he would be able to see in my eyes that I'm lying. "We're having lunch tomorrow, which is even better, if you think about it, that way we get to spend some time alone."

"If you say so …" he replies, with a sigh. "But we can talk about it, if you want to."

"I know Black, I know." I answer, putting my hand on his cheek; he smiles at this gesture and so do I.

Soon Mrs Potter arrives and asks us to decorate the back yard for the party. A table is set on the balcony overlooking the sea. A bunch of tiki torches are spread around the yard, by the fence. Pillows and blankets paint the green carpet of grass in tones of red and orange. On the corner, there is a table with a record player and vinil records and that will soon be I the company of a large amount of booze (the bottles will only come out once the adults exit the perimeter).

Before dinner I go up to my room to shower and get changed into something nicer. I'm not one to obsess over what I'm wearing but still expect a better attire than jeans and a plain shirt on my birthday. After a few moments consideration, I decide on a flowy black dress with cross back straps and a V neck and a pair of black leather sandals with a small platform.

I sit in front of my dresser and decide there is no use in putting on make-up. I rarely use foundation because I hate the way it feels on my skin. I'm quite pale but because I went to the beach a few times over the summer my completion is a bit darker, hidden some redness on my cheeks, making my skin look softer and more even. Therefore, I only put on a bit of mascara and some lipstick in a light shade of pink. I spray on some perfume, comb my hair and leave it to dry naturally. I look through my jewellery box (which is quite empty I must add) and pull out a pair of earrings that used to belong to my grandmother and that Mrs Potter bestowed upon me last year on my birthday.

As I walk down the stairs I hear a familiar voice. "Remus!" I yell, throwing myself onto the boy's arms. "You made it! I was so worried you might cancel last minute, thank God you're here!"

"Of course I came, I wouldn't miss you birthday for the world. Peter couldn't come but he sent his regards and a gift." He said, handing me a small package wrapped in brown and gold paper.

"Oh, that's too bad, but he didn't have to send a gift …" I put my arm around Remus and gesture him to accompany me as I take the present to a table in the living room already filled with a few gifts. "So, tell me all about you summer boy, I haven't seen you in ages!" Again, this is not true, we were just together a few weeks earlier.

After Mr Potter arrives, everybody is here for dinner so we gather by the table and star eating. Dinner with the Potters is always fun. Jokes are made and not only by us youngsters. Mr Potter is an incredibly funny man, always prepared to make a pun or tell an anecdote. And Mrs Potter is always ready to tell a funny story from when they we're younger and still at Hogwarts. After dinner is finished some other gests start to arrive and around 11pm Mr and Mrs Potter leave the house to ourselves to go and meet with some of their friends in London.

The booze comes out and the music gets loud. People star to dance and mingle. I watch them silently as the tipsily walk over the dance floor and mindlessly flirt with each other. This is what I usually do with Sirius at parties. We sit in a corner, drink in hand, and discuss who likes who and who has gone out with who and such and such. That is, when he's not snogging some random girl. Although he seems to be doing that less and less frequently. Probably because the pool of girls he hasn't been with is getting quite small.

I'm sitting alone on the stair that connect the balcony and the back yard when Remus sits down next to me. We sit in silence for some time. He's looking straight ahead across the lawn. I don't even have to check to see who he's watching.

"Why don't you go talk to her?" He looks at me, pretending to be confused. "Oh, don't look at me like that, you know exactly who I'm talking about! Becca! Why aren't you with her? I know you want to."

"That doesn't mean she wants me to…"

"But she does, I've already told you this! She talks about you all the time, saying the nicest things ever. But she's shy, she's never gonna make the first move. That my friend is up to you! And don't come and tell me she deserves better than you, that is up to her to decide and she has definitely decided you are plenty good for her. Why wouldn't you be? And don't you dare use you "furry little problem" as an excuse, she knows about it and couldn't care less and neither should you! Now go talk to her!"

"You know, if you didn't want my company you could have just said so woman!" He replies with a chuckle before getting up to leave. I watch him walk across the yard towards her and Becca smiles when she sees him coming.

Sirius sits down next to me and hands me a drink. I should probably stop drinking. The five shots of firewhisky I took at midnight as they sung Happy Birthday have clearly kicked in and more drinking definitely won't make it any better. But what the well – it's my birthday.

I look across the lawn as I sip on my rootbeer and notice Lily and James are sitting alone in a corner, talking animatedly. Alice and Frank are snogging in a darker corner. A few couples are dancing in the middle. Remus and Becca are by the record player, choosing some records. It's quite a lovely scene to observe. It almost makes you forget all that has been going on lately, all the attacks and disappearances.

I look to my right. Sirius is still sitting next to me. He looks so handsome with his air of casual elegance. His wavy lustrous hair in a very dark shade of black moves every now and then as the night wind rustles. A few streaks cover his striking grey eyes, making him look very mysterious. His bone structure, quite remarkable, marked jaw line and high cheekbones, together with his aquiline nose, reminiscent of the noses in Greek statues, give him a slightly aristocratic appearance.

He looks at me in a funny way. "What?" I ask, with a chuckle.

"Nothing."

"Not nothing! Why where you looking at me like that?" I'm clearly very drunk, otherwise I would have let this pass.

"You look pretty, that's all…"

"Oh, shut up, you liar!" I give him a nudge ion his arm, his very muscular arm.

"I'm not l lying! You asked me something and I gave you the answer, it's not my fault it wasn't what you wanted to hear." He seems to have taken this a bit more seriously than I thought he would.

"I was just joking, no need to get mad at me …" I wish I hadn't said anything.

"I'm not mad at you, it's just. You're so pretty and amazing and you don't even notice it and you don't believe me when I tell you this and I don't know what else to do to make you see yourself the way I see you." Now I REALLY wish I hadn't said anything.

We stay silent for some time, then he gets up and leaves. I stay behind for a few moments trying to catch up with what just happened. Eventually, I decide to follow him. When I get to his room I see through the slightly open door he is sitting on his bed, his face buried in his hands. By this time I'm the one who's slightly mad so I get in thundering.

"What the fuck was that? You just say those things and leave? What kind of- What the – How do you –" I can't even finish my sentences. I turn around to leave and feel a hand grabbing mine, quite gently, not ordering me to stay but asking me, telling me, that it doesn't want me to leave. I turn around to face him and we hug for a very long time. Somewhere in my drunk brain I find myself wondering whether this should be happening. This thought only lasts a second and the next thing I now his hand is on my face and we're looking into each other eyes. I lean in closer so that our faces are only inches apart. I feel his lips pressing against mine, only slightly at first, and then quite eagerly, like my lips were air and he was drowning. I don't know for how long we kiss before we make our way to the bed. I suddenly feel so tired I just want to sleep. We lay down next to each other, my head resting on his chest, his arms around me. I can feel his breath on the top of my head as he mutters something I can't quite make out. Everything just keeps getting foggier and before long I fall asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

I wake up, my head pounding like crazy, in a bed that is not my own, someone's arms wrapped around me. After a few moments of confusion I remember what happened the night before. Recollecting it didn't make me any less confused. At that moment, all I could think was I needed to get out of that room and fast, before he woke up.

I sprint to my room and rush into the shower. As the water falls on my head, I think about it. What the fuck Mia? I figured I'd be able to hold my liquor by now, it's not like I haven't gotten drunk before. In fact, I've gotten way drunker in the past. Then why could I stop myself from saying and doing all those stupid stupid stupid things last night? And Sirius, was he really that drunk? Would he remember it at all? And if he did, would he want to talk about it?

Arg, talk-about-it. How I hate those words! If it were up to me no one would ever talk about anything embarrassing or uncomfortable or confusing. My plan is always stuffing these subjects deep into my subconscious where I would eventually forget about them or at least act like I did. One thing is for sure: if I stay in the house today I'll definitely run into him and I-am-not ready for that.

Therefore, even though it's only 9 am and everyone else is sleeping, I decide to go to London where I'll meet dad for lunch. After leaving a note on the kitchen table explaining where I've gone, I step onto the fireplace in the living room and throw some floo powder at my feet as I say the address to our apartment.

Once the green emerald smoke clears around me I'm finally able to see where I've landed. I step out of the mantelpiece onto the rug and look around the living room, taking it all in. It has been a while since I've been here. The apartment is in an old brick Victorian styled building in the centre of London. One of the main reasons we bought it was the fireplace, because it was the only one we found that was large enough to allow us to travel by floo powder. The furniture (with the exception of the one in the bedrooms) came with the house so it was old and gloomy looking but I find it quite charming, to be honest. The first thing I do is send a note, by owl, to my dad, saying I decided to come earlier to pick up some things from the apartment and will meet him at our usual place around one.

The noise of the life outside in the busy London street accompanies me on my way to my bedroom. I call it "my bedroom" but in reality I haven't slept in here more than a few times. I push the door aside and turn on the light. The walls are a very slight shade of pink, the floor is covered with a fluffy white rug and the closed windows have white grapes on them. A white wooden bed stands by the window, filled with pillows and stuffed animals. Aside from this, most of the room is empty, with the exception of a group of cardboard boxes, staked against the corner. I decide, since I'm here, I might as well see what's onside of them.

I sit on the floor and pull one box at a time in front of me, careful and slowly going throw its contents. The first five ones are filled with mu old clothes which I send here once I no longer use them. Then there is one or two boxes of books and old toys. One has a particularly large collection of snowball I no longer remember ever having. These first ones I go throw quite quickly. Then comes a box I was not prepared to see: it is filled with my mum's clothes. I take them out, one by one, almost religiously, and lay them neatly on my side. On the bottom I find a small wooden box with golden engravings. I immediately recognize it and decide I'll take it home with me. In this bock mum used to save her jewellery. She was a strikingly beautiful woman and didn't have the habit of wearing too much accessories or extravagant clothes. She always used the same three items: a watch, a necklace and her wedding ring. This meant she was wearing these pieces when she died. The watch is broken, stopped at three pm, the time she was killed. The ring I set aside, deciding I'll give it to dad over lunch. The necklace I put on me. I think I'll wear it from now on. It's a small golden chain with a drop shaped diamond pendent hanging from it. Next I pick up a very heavy box and find it is full of books. I go through every single one of them, reading the title, the author, analysing the cover, perusing the pages. They all seem quite ordinary, all but one. It is old and battered, bound in faded black leather. The titles, in small golden letters reads "Secreta artium obscurorum". As I scann through the pages, I realised it was in fact written in Latin so I couldn't make out any of its content. Still, I decided to keep it. As I packed it on my bag I realised it was already past one and I was in fact late.

Thankfully the restaurant we chose wasn't too far from the apartment. It was a small café on the corner of a peaceful street that reminded us both of the Bristro where we used to go in Paris with mum. We meet here once or twice a year and talk about her. In these meeting I feel close to dad again, like we were when I was little. Dad still hasn't arrived, so I chose a table by the window and wait for him. Thankfully, he arrived soon after, so I didn't have to wait long.

He kissed me on the cheek, wish me a happy birthday and apologized for missing the dinner. I wave off his explanations and soon we're talking animatedly like no time has passed since we last where together. The lunch passes in a hurry and shortly he has to return to the office but invites me to come along with him. I immediately accept not only because I miss him and want to spend more time together but also because I'm not ready to go home and face Sirius.

When we arrive at the bureau we are greeted by his secretary who still recognizes me from when I used to come here when I was little. We talk from a few moment, as my dad answers a few calls. She does most of the talking, recalling stories of when I was a kid and sat down on her desk for the longest time reading a book and doing crazy drawings. Our conversation is interrupted by a young boy who seems slightly familiar to deliver some papers. "This is Colin, he interned with you father over the summer. He's at his last year at Hogwarts." So that's where I know him from. He is tall and athletically built, with hair the colour of wheat, tanned skin and olive green eyes. He smiles at me and nods in recognition. "Maybe he could show you around the office, you don't mind do you Colin?"

"Oh, you don't have to really, I'm sure you have better things to do…"

"I'd love to!" He says with a smile, gesturing me to follow him. He showed me the whole Department of Magical Law Enforcement (that's where dad works, as an intermediate between this department and the department of Mysteries; he's somewhat of a cross between an Auror and an Unspeakable; long story short, he can't tell me much about what he does). We talk like we've known each other for years. By the end of the afternoon I already know he's in Ravenclaw (which means he's VERY smart) and comes from a muggle family in Scotland (which means he has one of those adorable Scottish accents) and wants to be an Auror when he finishes school. When we get back to my dad's office I tell him I have to go back, since I've been gone all day they are probably worried by now. I kiss him on the cheek and leave him to deal with a very large pile of papers that need his attention and a phone that doesn't stop ringing.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

Most of the guests from last night slept here (lets face it, no one was in any condition to leave after all that drinking) but when I arrive they already left, with the exception of Remus, who is staying with us until we leave for Hogwarts. I find them all chilling on the beach and decide against joining them. Sirius is there and will undoubtedly want to talk about what happened which I would like to postpone for as long as possible. I go to the kitchen, where I find Mrs Potter, grab a bottle of water and go to my room, excusing myself from dinner by saying I'm too tired and will most likely sleep until tomorrow. My aunt kisses me on the cheek and hugs my tight, whispering "Happy Birthday Darling" in my hear.

Once I get to my room I throw myself onto my bed and lay there for a long time, not thinking of anything other than the throbbing headache that is currently making my head pound and brings tears to my eyes. Eventually I force myself to get up, take a shower, put on some pyjamas and get some sleep. If it where up to me, I would sleep until the next day, or the next one for that matter. I wake up, however, long before that. I look at the watch on my bed stand: it's 2 pm. Unable to fall back to sleep I decide to go downstairs and watch some TV (the Potters are one of the very few pure-blooded wizarding families that owe a TV and I thank God for that, for it has saved me one too many times when I can't fall asleep or when the weather is too bad to go out).

I lay on the couch, zapping through the channel until I spot something I like: a movie, Casablanca, with Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart, a classic which I haven't seen in a while. I hear someone walking down the steps and sit up on the couch up to see who it is. "Sirius!" I can't help but whisper, excited.

"Mind if I join?" I nod and he sits on my left. After a few moments of silence he starts "I'm not how to begin but – he paused – I think we need to talk, about what happened." I still say nothing. "I mean, I'm not sure how much you remember, I'm missing a few bit, to be honest …"

"Same here … but either way Sirius, there's no point in discussing it, we were both pretty drunk and we said things and did things we didn't actually mean, that is, stuff we wouldn't have done if we were sober … right?"

"Yeah, right."

"And we shouldn't let that ruin what we have, our friendship."

"Definitely!"

"You're my best friend Sirius, I tell you pretty much everything, stuff I never told anyone else, not even Lily or James, and I don't wanna lose you." I'm looking at him, but he's staring straight ahead.

Then he turns to me, looks me in the eye and says "that will never happen, nothing's gonna change." Then we both smile. And we turn back to the TV, watching the movie. And it truly feels like nothing changed at all. Once the movie ends and I'm back in my bed, trying to fall asleep, I think about what we said about not wanting things to change. I meant every word I said, but still, now I'm not so sure whether I actually want things to stay the same. I'm not sure whether I'll be able to (or want to) look at him the same way. But there is no point in pursuing the matter any further. I eventually fall asleep and wake up in the morning with the sense of having done the right thing.


End file.
